Marcus Aurelius Quotes
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151. “The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around. That’s all you need to know.”

— Marcus Aurelius

152. “For any particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?”

— Marcus Aurelius

153. “The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly, And be patience with those who don’t.”

— Marcus Aurelius

154. “My true Self is free. I cannot be contained.”

— Marcus Aurelius

155. “Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature.”

— Marcus Aurelius

156. “Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”

— Marcus Aurelius

157. “In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: ‘I am rising to a man’s work.’”

— Marcus Aurelius

158. “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”

— Marcus Aurelius

159. “When pain is unbearable it destroys us; when it does not it is bearable.”

— Marcus Aurelius

160. “Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.”

— Marcus Aurelius

161. “The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.”

— Marcus Aurelius

162. “Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both.”

— Marcus Aurelius

163. “I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions.”

— Marcus Aurelius

164. “All things fade and quickly turn to myth.”

— Marcus Aurelius

165. “Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.”

— Marcus Aurelius

166. “Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly.”

— Marcus Aurelius

167. “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it.”

— Marcus Aurelius

168. “Past and future have no power over you. Just the present – and even that can be minimized.”

— Marcus Aurelius

169. “No man is happy who does not think himself so.”

— Marcus Aurelius

170. “How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.”

— Marcus Aurelius

171. “Limit time to the present. Meditate upon your last hour.”

— Marcus Aurelius

172. “Leave other people’s mistakes where they lie.”

— Marcus Aurelius

173. “Observe the movements of the stars as if you were running their courses with them, and let your mind constantly dwell on the changes of the elements into each other. Such imaginings wash away the filth of life on the ground.”

— Marcus Aurelius

174. “Life is short. Do not forget about the most important things in our life, living for other people and doing good for them.”

— Marcus Aurelius

175. “If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.”

— Marcus Aurelius

176. “Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, o Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late, which is in due time for thee.”

— Marcus Aurelius

177. “It doesn’t hurt me unless I interpret its happening as harmful to me. I can choose not to.”

— Marcus Aurelius

178. “The intelligence of the universe is social.”

— Marcus Aurelius

179. “If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.”

— Marcus Aurelius

180. “People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time-even when hard at work.”

— Marcus Aurelius

181. “Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed.”

— Marcus Aurelius

182. “Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.”

— Marcus Aurelius

183. “All is as thinking makes it so.”

— Marcus Aurelius

184. “Take me and cast me where you will; I shall still be possessor of the divinity within me, serene and content.”

— Marcus Aurelius

185. “Let no act be done without purpose.”

— Marcus Aurelius

186. “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.”

— Marcus Aurelius

187. “Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.”

— Marcus Aurelius

188. “This is moral perfection: to live each day as though it were the last; to be tranquil, sincere, yet not indifferent to one’s fate.”

— Marcus Aurelius

189. “Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole.”

— Marcus Aurelius

190. “Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.”

— Marcus Aurelius

191. “The stone that is thrown into the air is none the worse for falling down, and none the better for going up.”

— Marcus Aurelius

192. “Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.”

— Marcus Aurelius

193. “We are born for synergy, just like the feet, just like the hands, just like the eyes, just like the rows of upper and lower teeth. Working against each other is unnatural, and being annoyed and turning one’s back is counterproductive.”

— Marcus Aurelius

194. “Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.”

— Marcus Aurelius

195. “A man should be upright, not be kept upright.”

— Marcus Aurelius

196. “In reading and writing, you cannot lay down rules until you have learnt to obey them. Much more so in life.”

— Marcus Aurelius

197. “Love the people with whom fate brings you together.”

— Marcus Aurelius

198. “Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.”

— Marcus Aurelius

199. “Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.”

— Marcus Aurelius

200. “Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.”

— Marcus Aurelius